A Shot From the Past
by YouKilledMyFrittata
Summary: Nick is shot by someone the team thought was long buried
1. Chapter 1

**This is only my second FanFiction. I do not own anything, CSI doesn't belong to me, although Holly is my Character. She's a CSI and is married to Nick.**

* * *

Harry Shaw watched as Nick Stokes walked out of bar. He had his muscular arms round his wife and college, Sara Sidle. He picked up the photos of them to double check who they were. He could here them laughing, clearly drunk. His phone rang

" _What is it, boss?"_

" _Is it done yet?"_

" _Almost I have eyes on him now if you'd get off the phone I could do it now"_

" _Right hurry up then"_ Shaw's boss hung up and he followed orders

* * *

"There is no way either of you are driving" Holly argued

"I'm'nt that drunk" Nick protested, failing to not act drunk. Holly looked at him and grabbed the keys from his grasp.

"I hate it when you do that" Nick complained.

"Oh damn, I've left my purse in the bar, I'll be two sec's" Sara said running off, back into the bar

' _Now'_ thought Barry. He got out of his car unsecuring his glock and taking it in his hands. He walked up to his target. Holly and Nick were still arguing about how drunk he was. "I only had 3 beers"

"Yeah 3 plus 7, Nicky" Nick pinned Holly up against the car, and they kissed each other.

"You fancy a quickie?" Nick asked smiling. Holly punched him in the shoulder and opened the car door.

"Stokes" Shaw called out blankly. Nick turned around wondering who was calling his name. He spun around and saw the gun pointing him. He sobered up in record time and raised his hands slightly. Holly looked over horrified "sir?" Holly called out "put the gun down" her voice was calm and soothing, making Nick less panicky, the fact that she was behind him was making him even better.

"NO" he snapped back

"Sir drop the gun" she put her hand up to her waist, her gun wasn't there, she must have left it in the car, she gently felt her husband's hip where his gun usually was, no luck either

"STAY OUT OF THIS BITCH"

"Sir drop the gun, you don't wanna do this" she said in a no-nonsense tone

"Oh yes I do, lady"

"Why do you wanna do this then?" Holly asked her tone sympathetic. She looked at the entrance of the bar _'please Sara don't come out now.'_ It was clear the man wasn't listening too her. She came out from behind Nick, arms raised, receiving a death stare from him.

"Sir you don't have to do this, we can talk about this, but waving a gun in the air isn't gonna make people listen to you anymore" She the man fired twice into Nick chest. Holly raced to stop her husband from falling to the ground. sh grabbed a jumper from inside the car and threw it on his wounds. The shooter came closer to them and held a gun up to Holly's head.

"Don't" Holly begged. It was the first time he's listened to her and ran off. She pulled him up on to her knees "Nicky, it's gonna be okay, c'mon" he grabbed her arm. Sara came back out of the bar, she couldn't see either of them, two legs were sticking out from underneath the car door she ran over realising something was wrong. Nick was struggling to breathe, and was coughing up blood.

"oh god Nicky, try stay awake" his grip on her arm was loosening. Holly noticed Sara crouched down beside her and Nick, she looked like she had just seen a ghost

"How many times had he been shot?" she asked with a phone to her ear

"Tw…twice" she choked seeing the colour draining from her husband's face. She felt the cold sweat leaking out off his back as she held him.

"Nicky don't do this to me, I love you"

"Ho...Holly" she nodded willing to go on "I…love" his eyes were closing

"I love you too Nick, Nicky stay awake" she could the sirens in the distance getting closer. She shook him gently, he didn't re-open his eyes

"NICKY"

* * *

She was standing in the waiting room blood soaked her clothes. Funny looks were coming from others in the hospital, but she didn't care. Holly didn't want to sit down in fear of ruining the evidence. That sounded stupid, the person she loved most, her husband, was dying and she was worrying about the evidence, that wasn't relevant to the case. Her phone was ringing, although she couldn't hear it she was too lost in her thoughts. The ambulance ride to the hospital was the scariest seven minutes of her life. Up to now the scariest day of her life was Nick being kidnapped. When she'd told her friends that they'd thought she was crazy, she had been kidnapped too, but at least she knew the people she loved were safe. Things hadn't gone well in the ambulance, Nick had gone down hill, lost a whole lot of blood and had a cardiac arrest, and they'd gotten him back, although the paramedics didn't look hopeful. They had tried to be optimistic, and for their sake she had gone a along with it. She'd been a CSI for long enough to know when people were lying and when people were trying to make her feel better. The ringing of her phone she took it out of her pocket. Sara. She hadn't been aloud to come with them; Holly had had to beg to come. She probably wanted to know how Nick was, in truth she didn't even know, it rang out, before she had the chance to answer it. She was wondering why that son of a bitch had shot Nick. She didn't recognize him, but yet again she hadn't seen Walter Gordon before – no one had. She looked up to see Russell standing over her, with a paper bag and spare clothes.

"You okay" he asked. She looked at his as if to say 'what do you think?' If he's been anyone else she would have just shrugged, but she wasn't in the mood for his 'cheering up methods'

"Were you hit, Holly?"

"No" she whispered only loud enough for him to here

"I brought what was in your locker, and your ID." She took them out of his hands "Do you have someone to look after the kids?"

"I'll call my brother" she said taking her phone back out of her back pocket. Russell put his hand on hers

"Barbara, can take them"

"I couldn't ask her to do that"

"You didn't I offered I already called her, she wants to as well"

"I don't know D.B they barely know her"

"She'll look after them Holly"

"I know that, but they've only spoken to her once or twice"

"They'll be fine" he shouldn't really be asking her this. He knew how particular she and Nick were about who they left their children with. It wasn't that she didn't trust her, but the kids might not. Their lives were possibly about to be ripped apart, the least she could do was make them feel safe now.

"I'll call my brother and ask him if he can drop them off at your wives house, his shift starts in an hour." He nodded. Russell looked at her the worry was evident in her face, panic even "he's strong Holly, a fighter"

"I'm gonna get changed" Russell had no right to say that he'd only known Nick for a year. She knew her husband was a fighter, he had lay though 24 hours of pure torture, but if it's your day, no one can fight that off.

There was another woman in the bathroom she looked horrified when Holly walked in. Did people not have any common sense these days? She was in a hospital for god sake, people bled. Fare enough if she'd walked in to a casino or a hotel covered in blood. She walked in to the stall without explaining or showing her ID. Which would probably been a mistake.

* * *

Sara walked up to the woman on reception desk "hi im looking for Nick Stokes please"  
"I'm sorry ma'am but I can't give out any information on Mr Stokes"

"I'm a CSI I work very closely with him, please" she explained holding her badge. She hook her head "I'm sorry" Sara knew there wasn't any point in arguing. She may as well just wait for Greg, then phone Holly again.

* * *

Holly walked back out of the stall, the creped out old lady was still there she crouched down and began folding her clothes.

"What are you doing?" she asked

She looked up at her "oh I'm a CSI, easier to do this myself"

"Oh right, got a little creeped out when I saw you" Holly laughed sealing the bag. She stood up began to wash the blood of her hands. Reality was beginning to set in; this was her husband's bloods. Tears began to fall from her eyes. "Someone you love?" she nodded not looking up from her hands.

"Why you here, someone you love?" she asked drying off her hands. Her phone rang before she got a chance to answer "Johnson"

"Where are you?" Russell asked

"Still in the bathroom, ill be out in a minute"

"Okay the nurse is here she won't tell me anything until you're here"

"Okay I'm coming back" she excused herself from the woman and went to find Russell again.

* * *

Shaw walked into his boss's office. He'd shot Stokes, but his stupid wife had been there. There was no way he could have watched him die; he's have had to shoot her too. He didn't have the heart to kill her. Idiot of a boss had showed him their kids, cutest things he'd seen he was a real sucker for kids. He'd taken their father, leave their mother out of it. He'd done his job anyway – sort of.

"Hey boss" he said trying to lighten the mood

"You do it" he grumbled back

"Yes, sir"

"Witnesses?"

"…none sir" he lied. His boss looked at him funny

"stop calling me sir, this is serious

"Chill boss, have you found out whether it was a success yet?"

"It better have been or you'll be lying in a bed next to him" he nodded in return noting his sarcasm.

"You need anything else?"

"Nope you can disappear now"

"What you doing about him now?" Harry asked

"Dressing up" he replied. Harry laughed and watched him leave.


	2. Chapter 2

"Look boss, I really don't think this is a good idea" Harry said almost begging his boss not to leave

"Why not Harry?"

"They are flipping CSI's they're going to know you aren't who you say you are"

"Well I'll take the chance"

"Boss"

"WHAT?" he replied exasperated

"There's something I need to tell you"

"What the hell is it Harry?"

"There was sorta, well..."

"Bloody hell, spit it out"

"There was a witness"

"Yeah, and you killed them?" he hoped

"No" Harry's boss looked like he was about to explode

"Can I not trust you to do anything, anymore? You used to be my top guy,what the hell?" Harry though that his boss you have killed him by now but instead he was scarily calm.

"Look it was his wife" Karl put his hand up to stop Harry from speaking

"A freaking, god damn cop" he whispered

"Look Stokes has kids, I just took their father, you're expecting me to take their mother on the same day?"

"Yeah" Karl said simply, widening his eyes. Harry looked at him as if he had completely lost his mind "look you stay here; I'm not done with you"

* * *

Receiving that call from Sara to tell him Nick had been shot had been the scariest of his life. Morgan had been lying peacefully sleeping beside him. He'd contemplated on not waking her, but he knew she's probably killed him later. Morgan had taken their son Oliver to Ecklie's house and Greg had driven straight up. He couldn't bear to lose another friend to a stupid human-being, thinking that he had the right to play God. Greg's knuckles had gone white he was gripping the steering wheel so tightly when he had been driving. He paced through the hospital's double doors, like he was a man on a mission; He noticed Sara standing at reception and wondered why she wasn't upstairs yet. "Hey, they wouldn't let me up, family only, I can't get a hold of Holly either" Sara explained, noticing his confusion

"Hey Sara" Greg began "are you okay?"

"I'm fine why?" she wondered

"You were there, Sara"

"I'm fine, Greg

"Okay let's get up to Nick" Greg said walking over to the desk. Sara grabbed his arm

"How are you planning on getting in?" Greg reminded her of what Nick had told them years ago _. Now G if anyone of us are ever in hospital, Grissom and Cath are parents and everyone else is brother or sister._

"Damn why I didn't remember that" Sara cursed. Greg walked up to the reception desk "hi, im looking for Nick Stokes, he's my brother" the receptionist look at them both funny

"What's your name, sir?"

"Greg Stokes"

* * *

"Hi I'm Elaine, I'm part of the team treating Nick" she reminded Holly of Nick, she was treating them as if his survival mattered to her and it wasn't just her job. "…he suffered two gunshot wounds to his chest, thankfully none hit the heart. Were taking him into theatre now and try and remove the bullets, I can assure you he is in the best possible hands. Ill try to keep you as updated as I possibly can, do either of you have any questions?" Holly and Russell shook their heads "okay well if you think of anything, you can have me or his Dr, Dr Adams paged. Oh and Nick's brother is on his way up."

"Thank you nurse" D.B said She turned and walked away from them.

"Brother?" Holly exclaimed "I haven't called his family yet" she closed her eyes and tilted her head; she still needed to inform them. Holly smiled "Greg" Russell looked at her confused, "technically we are a family"

"Excuse me?" a voice called from behind. Russell and Holly turned around, to see a tall, white man coming towards them "hi, are you two with Mr. Stokes" Holly nodded, and then waited for the man to carry on.

"Oh…yeah" he laughed reaching in for him suit pocket. Holly and Russell both put their hands on their guns "Ha, smart move" he produced a FBI badge for a split second "Special Agent Brown, Internal Affairs, how is Mr Stokes?"

"Why are you here?" Holly asked him coldly

"We have info that a police office shot your husband"

"Okay and you're telling us this why?"

"I'd like to talk with Mr. Stokes please"

"Yeah…so would I" Holly said sarcastically. Holly was above suspicious of this guy.

"What my college means is that, we haven't began looking through evidence yet, and we have no reason to believe that an officer was involved, but we will call you if we discover otherwise"

"Look, your CSI guy, is in theatre and your withholding information"

"I think you should leave now"

"ma'am"

"Don't call me 'ma'am'; I want you to leave, now"

"I'll be in touch" the man smiled before turning and almost bumping into Greg and Sara

"Who was that" Greg asked

"A fake I.A agent" Greg and Sara looked at her with wide eyes

"How do you know he's a fake" Russell, Sara and Greg all said in unison

"For a start no I.A agent refers to Nick as my 'husband', he's clearly never taken anything out of his pocket before, oh and he was being to nice"

"Oh okay" Sara began even more worried "Nick, how's he doing?"

"None of the bullet hit his heart, they've taken him into surgery" D.B explained. They all stood in silence for a while worrying about Nick.

"Morgan, should be on her way up, soon, Finn called me back too, she's stuck in traffic on the strip, she's gonna call when she's near." Greg informed them.

"Should we call Catherine?" Sara asked?"

* * *

"I don't really care what case I'm on now on right now, I'm getting on the next plane to Vegas"

"Cath, you can't go running back to Vegas, every time one of your old buddies gets shot" Brian argued with his best agent.

"Well sack me then"

"Look im not sacking anyone" Brain said calming down a little as he and Catherine walked into his office "sit down Catherine, how well do you know him"

"Well, are you gonna give me time off or not?" she asked standing up

"How long you gonna be gone for, who's running the department?"

"Scott can run it he'll manage for a week or so, I'll call you" she said turning and beginning to walk out

"Hey, hey, hey a week or so, jees" Catherine stopped in her tracks

"What?"

"Do you need a helicopter, or are you flying commercial?" Catherine smiled at him

"Thanks boss!"

* * *

The CSI's were sitting in the ICU's waiting room. It'd been 3 hours since Nick had been shot 2 since they'd called Catherine and 1 since they'd heard anything from anyone. Jim had come and gone, they'd gotten a few leads and he's gone to follow them. Russell, Finn and Morgan and gone to process the evidence, leaving Greg, Holly and Sara alone. Greg and Sara were making small talk, whist Holly was sitting staring at the floor. She still hadn't called Nick's parents. What was she supposed to say to them? 'Oh hey, someone tried to kill your son – again' Then there was the 'I.A' guy. The way he said 'CSI guy' had made her skin crawl. Maybe it was just her imagination and the stress of everything, but she was sure as hell, that he sounded exactly like Walter Gordon. Walter Gordon, that name made her want to punch someone. She also had to tell her kids that their dad might never come home again. That was the hardest part, how do you tell a 6 year old and a 2 year old that their daddy was murdered. Greg brought Holly out of her thoughts "you wanna coffee? I'm going on a run"

"Yeah, thanks Greg" Greg left and Sara came and sat beside her "have you called Nick's parents yet?" A single tear fell down her cheek, she quickly wiped it away

"I don't know how to tell them"

"Look from what I know they're lovely people and they love you, just tell them as it is" Holly nodded "I'll give you some space" Sara informed her. Holly took a deep breath and called her mother-in-laws

"Hello?" a groggy, tired voice came from the other end of the phone

"Hey, Jill its Holly"

"Hey girl, how those kids of yours coming along?"

"Just the same as when you called me a day ago"

"So anyway, there has to be a reason for you waking me up at 4 in the morning"

"Yeah, about that, Jill listen to me, it Nick…"

"Oh goodness" she inhaled a sharp breath "what happened

"Erm…he was shot, he's in surgery" she said quickly. She could hear her waking up her husband

"Holly, is he gonna be okay?" she was silent for a dew seconds

"I'm not sure" she could hear Jill sobbing and Rodger comforting her. He'd taken the phone from her

"Holz, we will be on the next flight"

* * *

"I looked through all of Nick's cases nothing stood out; didn't Nick have a stalker a while back?" Morgan asked D.B and Finn

"Holly would have said if he was the shooter and he sounds like someone who would do things himself, but check him out anyway" D.B said.

"I looked over the bar's CCTV, nothing its actually terrible, but I did look over the road traffic cameras" Finn explained "the only that came out of the car part at the time of the shooting was a silver Mercedes, plate number QK75 MEK ran it through the DMV database, and I got a name, meet Harry Shaw" Finn handed D.B a picture "From the picture it looks like the same guy"

"So why did he shoot Nick then?" Morgan asked

"he doesn't have a record and no reason to do anything wrong, I think he was hired" Finn suggested

"Call brass, were going to have a chat with Mr. Shaw. D.B said picking up his photo again.

"LVPD, Shaw, WE HAVE A WARRANT" Jim Brass shouted whist banging on the front door. D.B and Finn were standing behind him with their guns also drawn. He nodded to Mitch to kick it down.

"LVPD, POLICE" within the next minute they were given the all clear "house is clear sir, body in the kitchen"

"I wonder if it's Shaw?" D.B asked almost to himself.

"Okay so house is registered to Harry Shaw lives alone, and I have no idea who that is" Brass explained standing over the John Doe. whist D.B was looking around the kitchen and Finn studying the blood

"Alright, call Dave, have him come pick him up, we need to work this out"


	3. Chapter 3

"Jill, calm down a little you aren't gonna make Nicky any better by panicking yourself into a bed next to him" Rodger, Jill's husband, said trying to calm her down

"What happens if he doesn't recover?" she cried

"Honey, we just have to pray he does" Jill and Rodger were waiting at reception for Holly to come down and bring them up to see Nick. She had informed them that he was just about to come out of surgery

"Hey guys" a soft voice called from behind them. Jill pulled her into a Texan sized hug, before Holly realised what was happening. She smiled at Rodger who was standing behind Jill. Holly pulled out of the hug; it was clear to her in-laws that she'd been crying, although neither of them said anything "I'll take you guys upstairs"

Sara was still sitting in the waiting area. Greg had gone home to see his son, who had apparently been up crying all night from a nightmare, although Sara reckoned that Ecklie was the poor kids' nightmare. Sara looked up and saw Jill and Rodger coming round the corner. She hugged them both and asked them how they were. Nick's doctor came round the corner "Mrs. Stokes?" Holly hadn't gotten used to being called that yet since she hadn't changed her name. They had both agreed that it would have been too confusing at work having two 'Stokes'' in the lab Jill turned around first "hi, this is Jill and Rodger, Nick's parents"

"Hi" the doctor shook both of their hands. "The Surgery was a success, we were able to remove the bullets and stop the bleeding. Nick still has a long road ahead of him; he lost a lot of blood and hadn't regained consciousness yet. We've placed him in an induced coma, just now to help him recover, I know this is difficult, do you have any questions?"

"Will he wake up?" Jill asked quietly

"I'm sorry I don't have the answer to that just yet, but he is fit and healthy, so he has a bigger chance of pulling through"

"Can we see him?" Holly wondered

"Yeah follow me" the doctor said motioning down the hallway "Oh, I almost forgot, you two are CSI's right?" Sara and Holly nodded "these are the bullets we recovered" he handed the bullets to Sara

"I'll be in, in two secs" Holly explained, wanting to talk to Sara first, she watched them follow the doctor into Nick's room

"Did you speak to D.B?" Holly asked Sara

"Yeah, they've got a suspect, Harry Shaw; they went to his house and found the body of Eric Nicoll, any of those names mean anything to you or Nick?"

"I don't think so; I don't think this was random either"

"No, Finn thinks the shooter was hired by someone else"

"Maybe, had Catherine called you yet?"

"Yeah she'll be another ten minutes"

"Okay, I'm going in now, you coming"

"No, I'll wait a bit let family in first" Holly looked at her as if she was crazy

"What do you think you are Sara?" she smiled and followed Holly into the room.

* * *

"Karl walked back into his office, Harry was still waiting inside, he was looking around "hey remember this day?" Harry asked holding up a photo?"

"Yeah" Karl said, like he was unable to forget "it all ended when she got arrested, then everything went downhill from there" Harry nodded thinking about old times

"Anyway, how did the dress up go?"

"Not that bad, although wife is on to me"

"I told you it was a bad idea, what now" Harry asked, almost afraid of the answer

"Plan B"

"There was a plan A" Shaw asked, wondering if Karl had ever actually thought this through"

"Yes, of course there was a plan A"

"Okay, let's hear it"

"You won't want involved" he replied, whist sitting down and taking off his tie

"Why, I shot 'Ric didn't I, what could be worse than that?"

"Look, he had it coming, he turned his back on us on all five of us" Karl said his voice raising slightly

"Alright, alright I get the point, what do you need me to do?"

"Harry, you're off the hook on this one, this is something I need to do myself okay"

* * *

"Okay, victim's name is Eric Nicoll" Super Dave said pulling a wallet out of the man's pocket. He was lying with his arms stretched out, his white tee-shirt was blood soaked and a pool of his blood on the right "COD is most likely either one of those gunshot wound to the chest"

"Right this isn't his house so why was he left here?" Finn asked wondering why the killer didn't clean up

"Maybe our killer is in the wind and he simply doesn't care" Brass suggested

"Two gunshot wounds, just like Nick, it looks like the same guy" D.B said

"I'll get him back, see what doc can find out for you" Dave said walking out to get the gurney

"Jules, get Morgan out here to help us, you do the blood work" D.B ordered

D.B was wandering around Harry Shaw's house; it looked like a normal house – whatever that was. It was neat, barely anything out of place, nothing to suggest he was a murderer, apart from the dead body in the kitchen. D.B picked a photo of four men and a female; they were all standing with their arms around each other. Something told him to bag the photo. D.B thought of Nick. He'd never had a CSI before that had been injured as badly as Nick, or even anyone on death's door. He's read Nick's file it's been like an action movie, one terrible thing after another. D.B put is mind back on the case, if he wanted to help Nick, the only thing he could do right now was catch his shooter. There were several of the Eric and his wife; there weren't any children, which seemed like a good thing "JIM" D.B called out suddenly

"Yeah?" Jim asked worryingly

"Did you contact the wife?" D.B asked holding up a photo

"No answer on her cell and her shift starts in half an hour, works at the Tangiers" Brass informed him "have you heard from Sara?

"Yes, she called Nick's out of surgery" Brass nodded.

"Do you think he can pull through this?" D.B asked. Brass looked at him questionably; he wasn't sure how to answer "he's pulled through worse" Russell nodded

"Alright I got people to question" Brass said walking out

* * *

Holly was sitting by her husbands bedside, holding his hand. Tubes and wires were everywhere, there was a tube in his mouth helping him to breathe, a unit of blood was pumping into his veins, wires hooked up to cardiac machines, which were beeping every so often. Nicks chest was bare, except from the white bandages covering his wounds. The room was silent, his parents had left for coffee and Sara had gone home for some well needed rest. Holly wondered if Nick knew she was there, if he was having nightmares that he really couldn't wake up from, she held is hand tighter at the thought. She couldn't bare to lose him, she'd come too close before. "you really need to stop giving me heart failure Nicky" D.B was standing in the doorway; he didn't want to startle Holly too much. He comes into the room hoping to grab her attention

"Hey" he said finally when she looked up. Holly wiped away a tear that had fallen down her cheek

"Hey" she replied. D.B grabbed a chair from the corner of the room and sat down on the opposite side of Nick "so we ran the bullets, from Nick and the ones found in Eric Nicoll, they're a match, same gun. We don't have a connection between them yet and we aren't sure if he's another victim or an accomplice on the wrong side of the gun" Holly nodded, not really sure on what to say next. There was a knock at the door. Holly excepted Nick's parents to come through but it was Catherine "hey guys" Holly stood up to hug her as did Russell "How's he doing" Catherine asked, looking over at her former college

"He's getting there" Holly replied

Holly was sitting on a bench outside of the hospital, with a cup of coffee in her hand, Catherine had just spend ten minutes looking for her, when she just gave up and pinged her cell. She was worried about the younger CSI. "Hey, you holding up okay?" she asked, while sitting down

"I have no idea, Cath" Holly said honestly, she knew there was no point in lying to Catherine. "I think I'm going crazy, either that or" she paused not sure how to finish her sentence "…or I'm paranoid"

"Why what's wrong?" Catherine asked grabbing Holly's coffee, and taking a sip

"The IAB guy that came said something to me earlier and I just can't get it out of my head

"What IAB guy"

"Someone came from the department, although I'm 80% sure he was a fake"

"Fake?" she asked shocked

"Yeah, like the way he was acting, the way he was speaking"

"…and this has something to do with you being paranoid or crazy?"

"Well when Nick was buried alive, there was this tape recorder; you know that one that Grissom decided to tell know one about"

"Yeah"

"Well when Kelly, killed that psycho Nick let me listen to it, the first thing, Gordon said was 'hi CSI guy'"

"I didn't realize you'd heard that" Catherine said

"Yeah, it freaked me out and I wasn't stuck in a box, anyway the IAB guy said to us 'your CSI guy' it sounded the same and I don't know whether I'm going nuts or not. I mean there is a big difference between shooting someone and burying them alive, Cath"

"What's the evidence saying?" I haven't looked at yet, Finn, Morgan and D.B are looking at it, I mean they have no idea what to look for"

"Who's Finn?"

"New girl replaced you" Holly said taking her coffee back

"She good?"

"Yeah, bit crazy on chain saws, obsessed with blood, but other than that a good laugh"

"Chainsaws?" Catherine asked confused

Holly shook her head laughing at what Sara had told her "it's a really long story, I'll tell you later. Hey by the way thanks for coming"

"Hey where else would I be" Holly smiled

"We called Grissom, he didn't answer, could you try again"

"Sure, he's probably too busy investigating fruit fly larma"

Holly laughed "Hey I'm gonna take the kids to school, can you keep an eye on Jill and Rodger please"

"Yeah, tell them I'll see them before I leave"

"Will do"

* * *

Holly walked up to Russell's front door, she rang the doorbell, not just wanting to barge in "Mummy" April answered the door and jumped into Holly's arms

"Hiya Holly" Barbara said coming to the door. Holly carried April in

"Hiya, thanks for looking after them"

"Hey, anytime they're great kids"

"Where are your brothers?" Holly asked April

"I dunno" she said as if she didn't know she had brothers. Holly put her down and she went to go finish getting ready for school

"Hey how's Nick doing?" Barbara asked quietly making sure April couldn't hear her

"He's out of surgery, though he's hanging on in there."

"Kay anything you need, we're here"

"Mummy" Ryan came running through. Holly picked him up

"Hey kiddo, what you been up to?"

"We've been painting haven't we?" Barbara filled in

"Painting wow"

"Yeah and we were drawing first, too"

"I go get it" Ryan wriggled free from Holly and went to find his pictures

"Hey if you need someone to look after him today I'm free" Barbara offered

"Are you sure, I don't want to take advantage of you"

"Hey I babysat, most of the CSI's kids in Oregon, and I think Oliver and Emma are coming over today anyway, he'll be fine"

"Thank you I'm gonna take George and April, I'll come see George before I go back to the hospital"

"Mummy where's daddy?" April asked as George came through carrying Ryan and tickling him. Holly took a deep breath

"hey kids I need to tell you something" April and Ryan came and stood in front of her as she crouched down, George was behind them "your daddy is a bit poorly just now so he went into hospital to get better okay?"

"Did he get hurt?" April asked innocently

"Yeah, but he's want you to be brave for him right" they nodded at her "okay what do we say to Barbara, for putting up with you guys?"

"Tank you" they said at the same time

"Hey Ryan, you wanna stay here, Ollie and Emma should be over soon"

"YEAH!" he said as if it was the most exciting thing he'd ever been offered" they walked out to the car "mum what's going on?" George asked

"Dad what shot last night" she explained only loud enough for him to hear

"WHAT?" April turned around wondering what was going on

"April you get in the car, kay?" she did what she was told

"What happened is he alright, where was he shot, do you know who did it, why…"

"jeez, George one question at a time, he's in ICU" George's eyes got wide "shot in the chest, I have no idea who did it or why, the labs working on it, we can talk more about it tonight, but right now I need you two to get to school"

"Mum I could be sitting with dad, or helping you"

"Kid, you're not a CSI you can't help, i'll take you up after school, and c'mon please don't argue with me now I'm knackered" George reluctantly got in the car and Holly drove them to school, but all three of them were blissfully unaware that they were being followed.


	4. Chapter 4

D.B was standing looking over the files, he was missing something. All he had so far were assumptions; there was no physical evidence of Harry Shaw at either crimes scenes, only Holly's statement. The only connection was the bullets which weren't getting him anywhere, the gun wasn't registered in any database and he had no other leads, he couldn't let this case slip, it was too dangerous for Nick and his family. He was beginning to wonder whether Shaw killed Nicoll or not. D.B didn't think that he would leave a dead body in his own house. Shaw hadn't tried to leave the city yet, his passport hadn't been used and he hadn't left by road either, so he had to be hiding in Vegas somewhere, they just had to find him. There was knock on the door that broke D.B's train of thoughts "Hey what you doing here?"

"I came by to see how you were getting on" Holly said, she was clearly over tired

"Honestly I'm not sure, where this is going yet" she began looking over the photos, when something caught her eye

"What is it" Holly picked up a photo

"Where did you get this from?" she asked quietly

"I was in Shaw's house; do you know any of them?" Holly's eyes got wider

"Yeah" she whispered "it's Walter Gordon, and…the guy on the left…is the IAB guy that same to see us at the hospital" Russell came over and looked at the photo

"I never even looked at him, I was wondering who the girl was"

"Kelly Gordon, Walter's daughter." Jim Brass walked in "hey guys Nicoll's wife is here"

"Are you going to speak to her, now?" she asked D.B

"Yeah, it's where I'm going next"

"Can I join you?"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I'm not gonna start screaming my head of at her Russell"

"Alright okay"

* * *

April Strokes was out playing in the school playground with her friend Danielle, they were playing catch when it rolled down the hill "April, you meant to catch it" she said running up to her friend, laughing

"Sorry" April replied laughing "us not meant go down there, I get JoJo"

April came running back "I allowed down, I be quick

 _Alright now_

April ran down the hill as fast as she could and grabbed the ball

" _Hey kid you wanna lolly?"_ April turned away from the man; she knew she wasn't allowed to talk to strangers

 _Crap, that obviously the perks of having cops for parents_. _The man came in the school gates and grabbed April, covering her mouth stopping her from screaming, and put her in the back seat of his car and drove away_.

* * *

"Hi Mrs. Nicoll, im CSI Johnson, this is CSI Russell, we're very sorry for your loss"

"Thank you" she said wiping tears from her eyes with a tissue she had in her hands.

"Do you know of anyone who would wanna do this?" Holly asked gently

"Karl Gordon" she said without a beat. Holly looked at Russell

"You seem very sure about this Mrs. Nicoll"

"I am that man has wanted my husband dead ever since…" Holly sat in the seat next to her.

"Ever since what?"

"Walter Gordon" she paused again, unsure if she should go on or not.

Holly shook her head "Who's Walter Gordon?" she asked, Holly didn't want her thinking she knew exactly who he was and that she would kill him if he hadn't done it himself

"Karl's brother" ' _this psycho has a brother?_ ' Holly thought to herself

"Right what did this Walter do?"

"He did something horrible 8 or so years ago"

"Do you know what he did?" she pushed

"You guys are CSI's right?"

"That's right" D.B informed her.

"Were you two her in 2005?"

"I was, CSI Russell wasn't"

"Then officer you will know the CSI that was buried alive?"

"Yeah, I know about him"

"Eric, Walter, Karl and Harry were all friends from school, inseparable, until Kelly, Walter's daughter was put in prison for something she apparently didn't do"

"Apparently?" D.B asked

"She knew her 'boyfriend' was about to kill that man, she was in on it. Walter spiralled out of control from there, eventually he snapped and kidnapped a CSI, then blew himself up, when the police came for the ransom, after that Eric wanted nothing to do with any of them"

"When was the last time you or your husband spoke to either of them? D.B asked

"Last week Eric said they were about to do something stupid again and was about to go to the police today"

"Do you know where they are now, what they do for a living?"

"Karl is in aerospace, Harry is in biometrics"

"Okay, you've been a big help thank you" D.B said

* * *

"Okay, so this has something to do with Nick's kidnapping, 8 years ago" Russell confirmed, all the CSI's were standing around the layout table.

"Who knew that son of a bitch had a brother" Catherine cursed

"Eric had nothing to do with the shooting, he was just trying to help, and he had no idea when this crazy plan was going to happen" Finn added

"so what now?" Holly asked beginning to feel the affects of having no sleep for 24 hours and living on coffee

"Now we find this Karl Gordon and Harry Shaw" Brass said

"Whilst we're doing that you're going home and getting a few hours sleep" D.B said reading her mind

"Yeah I might actually do that" Holly said taking out her phone. Looking at it confused

"Who is it" Greg asked concerned

"It's the school" Holly replied quietly

"Hello?" she answered

"Hi, Mrs Stokes, this is Newfield's Primary school, I'm sorry to tell you this but your daughter has gone missing from school" came a shaky voice from the other end of the line

"What, are you sure?"

"Yes we are could you come in please?"

"I'm on my way" Holly hung up and turned back to her colleges

"April's gone missing from school" Holly said quietly "I gotta go" she raced out of the room, Russell followed her

"Jeez Holly I thought you said your dad didn't teach you how to drive?"

"He didn't I only drive like him in emergency's"

"tell me about this 'Walter family'" D.B said trying to get her to take her mind of her daughter

"you've obviously read Nick's file you know what he did to him"

"yeah, I've read it but I only read the case file and Nick's shrink sessions, you know that somethings can be left out especially it's one of your own and it isn't going to court"

"Walter Gordon kidnapped and buried Nick alive, because his daughter, Kelly was put in prison for accessory to murder. We reckoned she was being pimped out by her cellmate and Walter couldn't take it anymore, he stopped visiting kelly six weeks into her sentence then all of a sudden he visits again. We assumed she knew and brought her in, she didn't budge. A few months later we found out he had an accomplice, kelly killed her over money"

"...and now Walter's brother is getting the revenge he couldn't get 8 years ago"

"Seems that way"

"How much time did nick have left?"

"Not much a few more minutes and he might not have been here" Russell nodded as they pulled up at the school's main entrance

"Hi I'm here to see Mrs. Flynn"

"Do you have an appointment?"

"Yeah, Jen let them through" the head teacher had come through to the office. Holly went to push through the door

"ma'am, you have to leave your gun at reception" Holly gave her a confused look and threw it on the counter

"Look do you have CCTV?" Russell asked, deciding to take over the questioning. The head teacher Kim Flynn and the playground supervisor Joe Hepburn were standing looking very worried

"Yes it on its way, look this has never happened before" she tried to explain. Holly was about to say something sarcastic but Russell shot her a death stare. A janitor came in with the video footage "were going to need a copy of that" Russell informed him

"Yes, sir" he said walking away. Russell forwarded the footage to the part they were interested in. Holly bowed her head unable to watch any longer.

"The children aren't allowed down that hill but, I gave her permission to run down and get it" Joe explained "her friend came running up to me and said something about a man stealing April, I'm very sorry Mrs. Stokes." Holly nodded. Russell watched the film again, trying to catch anything he missed. Holly had spoken to the supervisor a few times seemed like a nice guy, April loved him, always telling her and Nick funny stories about him.

"Isn't his gate supposed to be locked?" Holly asked finally watching it all the way through

"Yes, ma'am I have no idea why it isn't" Kim said confused. Holly shook her head, looking back at the film

"Great so he doesn't touch the gate and he didn't leave us any actual evidence, great"

"Do you know who he is?"

"Im working on it" Russell assured them. "Aha, there you are" Flynn looked at Russell like he was crazy

"What you got?" Holly asked

"His face" Russell said his enthusiasm changing

"Karl flipping Gordon, im gonna kill him"

"Holly" Russell warned "she's had a bad day" Russell explained innocently. Holly sat down next to Russell, trying to think where he's taken her daughter.

"What if he kills her Russell?"

"Holly" he warned "doesn't go there"

"Why not, there's no saying what lengths this guy would go to"

"Yeah, but April's six years old"

"have you dealt with this guy before" Kim asked concerned

"sort of" Holly replied to kim before turning back to russell "Well his brother is completely nuts, i wouldn't put anything past him"

"Holly, put on your CSI head, it's the only way your gonna get her back, your words not mine, look he's been sitting there since you dropped them off"

"Great so he's been following me"

"You remember what you told me when Katie was kidnapped?"

"Russell, what…"

"What did you tell me when Katie was kidnapped?"

"I told you a lot of thing when Katie was kidnapped"

"You said to me that, going around panicking isn't gonna get her back, and once I calmed down a little I was able to think straight and get her back"

"What are you recording everything I say now?"

"No, but you give good advice when you're thinking straight" Holly smiled at him

"Okay I'll get back to the lab" Russell began, while walking out of the school "you go back be with Nick"

"Russell" Holly protested, D.B put his hands up to stop her

"Go and be with Nick, you can't handle the evidence anyway"

"D.B I have to help"

"And do what? Do you trust your team" Holly stopped behind him

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Do you trust us?"

"Of course I do"

"Then you will know we will do everything to get your daughter back, for you and Nick" Russell stated up the car "I'm gonna drop you off at the hospital, stay there, we will call you if we find out where she is, alright you can come, and get her with us"

"You promise?"

"Pinky promise" he said holding out his pinky

"You're nuts"

* * *

"Look child shut up" Karl snapped as April was crying in the back seat, of the man's car. The windows were blacked out, she couldn't see where she was going, and she had no clue that this man was either

"I want my mummy" April whined

"Look I'm taking you to see your mummy, just be quite"

"I no, no you" she protested, shaking her head

"Child your mum told me to get you from school and take you back to my house, then your mummy is coming to pick you up"

"No"

"Please don't make this difficult for me, you want that lolly I offered you earlier?"

"No"

* * *

"Nicky I really need you to wake up" she leaned forward and ran her fingers through his hair trying to think of something to say to him. There was no way she was saying anything about April, if there was a chance he could hear her. "Hey do you remember our first date? You took me to this fancy restaurant and we weren't old enough to get in so you took me to McDonalds instead and we were sitting eating chicken nuggets and a happy meal in formal clothes. Or when we were rookies at the 18th in Texas and you had the weekend off, and your girlfriend was out of town, and you were texting her and when showed me and Barry and I thought you know I'd prank and never said who you were really texting so on Monday when you walked into the district me and Barry were sitting trying to keep a straight face and your training officer is like, no I'm not mad peanut I love you too so for the whole day your _male_ training officer is calling you peanut and babe got a couple of awkward looks thinking you were both gay, then that guy gave you his number, looking for a date" Holly sat smiling to herself, hoping Nick could hear her "I know how hard you're fighting right now Nicky, and I don't want you to give up, god that's the last thing I want right now, I know you can pull through this, you've done it before, and I'm gonna be here as long as you need me no matter what, 'in sickness and health' right? Just hang on in there 'cause I love you and I can't lose you. Y'know we lost Warrick and that was tough so I don't wanna know what it'd be like to lose you. I'm not ready to lose you. I won't ever be. The kids, they love their daddy, April and Ryan they're too young to understand what's going on, but George, he's 14. He understands and you mean everything to him. Not all men would do what you did and take him on like he is on of your own. He needs you we all do." she leaned forward and kissed his forehead "I love you"

* * *

"Aright what do we know?" Russell asked his CSI's

"Harry Shaw killed Eric Nicoll and shot Nick, Karl Gordon, looks to be the boss kidnapped April"

"alright I wanna know everything about this Karl Gordon, where he lives, where he works, known aliases, where he was born, I wanna know what toothpaste he uses" D.B ordered

Morgan and Finn got to work

"I don't even wanna know what Holly's going through right now"

"Having a husband in a coma is one thing, but having your daughter kidnapped is something else" Catherine said

"Well we found Lindsay, we'll find April" Greg assured them

"Hey I found Karl's address" Morgan stated.

"I'll get a warrant we'll search his house" Brass said, putting his phone up to his ear

* * *

"Hol you want some coffee" Rodger asked, holding out a cup

"If I drink anymore coffee I'm gonna go into to a caffeine overdose" Holly replied. Rodger sat down setting the coffee beside him.

Holly's phone rang "Johnson" she answered

"We have an address for Karl Gordon you wanna join us? We don't have any evidence that she's here so don't get your hopes up" Brass offered

"Yeah, I'm coming, you'll have to pick me up though, D.B dropped me off"

"Right I'll be two minutes" Brass hung up

"I'll take the coffee" she said standing up and holding out her hand "lead on April" she mouthed

"Good luck then, I'll sit with Nicky" she kissed her husband's head and ran out of the room.


	5. Chapter 5

Brass pulled up outside the hospital beside where Holly was standing, she opened the door and a bullet proof vest came flying at her as she got in. "if there is a chance Karl Gordon is in this house there is no chance you're going in without one" Brass said driving off.  
Jim didn't want to knock or shout on Gordon in case April was actually in there and scare him into to killing her. D.B, Holly, Greg, Sara and Catherine all stood behind him, guns drawn vest on. Holly was trying to keep calm, she wanted nothing more to go right in a see if her daughter was there or not, but deep down she knew that was the worst thing she could do. Greg stood behind her also anxious to get in and save his niece. April was one of them and if someone hurt her, they hurt them all. He thought that had probably been the plan. - Again. Sara thought about what she would do if someone took her daughter, Emma. She knew she wouldn't be as calm as Holly was, especially if Gil had just been shot too. Jim tried the handle, it was unlocked, it made a silent entrance much easier, and he didn't want to alert this son of a bitch. They entered the house with SWAT in front of them. They cleared the house then proceeded down to the basement. D.B was standing in front of Holly. He would have preferred it if she wasn't here, it would have been safe but when Katie was kidnapped, there was no way that he wouldn't have gone to that house to get her.

Holly could hear her daughter crying, a wave of relief came over her, and all they had to do now was make sure she was alone. They reached the bottom of the stairs and could now see April, and Gordon standing behind her. She had a scarf round her eyes and a gag stopping her from screaming, her arms were taped to the arm chair. Gordon was getting closer to her "FREEZE GORDON WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED" Brass ordered. Karl ignored him and walked forward producing a knife round the little girl's neck "you people took your time"

He looked around "Hey Holly" he gloated. April began squirming about, desperately trying to get away from the man "April, honey" Holly called out "sit still, can you do that for me?"

"Mmmm" she cried out

"Yeah, sweetie I'm right here, just sit still"

"GORDON, PUT THE KNIFE DOWN" Brass boomed

"You aren't gonna shoot me, not with a kid in your line of fire"

"Put is down this is only gonna end badly for you"

"What does this little girl call Captain Brass? Uncle Jim" he laughed "a little CSI family with an additional cop, cute" he was now staring at Holly "you wanna know what Kelly called me? _'Not really'_ Holly thought "Unkarl" he was shouting how, his hands shaking "you stupid people took everything away from me, my brother, my niece"

"We understand, but she has nothing to do with this, let her go" D.B asked

"NO, she has everything to do with this; her father ruined my life" he paused calming down a little "why don't I slit your daughter's throat right in front of you?" Karl threatened slyly looking at Holly "That's a great thing to tell your husband 'I watched our daughter die and did nothing about it"

"That's not gonna happen" D.B whispered to her.

"What does this little girl mean to you? How does it make you feel knowing there is nothing you can do to get her out of this hell, helpless, useless, impotent? Good. welcome to my world" Brass positioned his gun, as Gordon threw the knife away. he unzipped his coat, revealing a bomb

Brass fired, not giving this guy a chance. Karl fell back. Holly ran down the remainder of the stairs "Holly, let me do it" Greg called after her

"He's dead Greg"

"Yeah but Shaw might have tied her up" Greg said, already taking the scarf from around her eyes of his niece. Holly knelt down in front of her daughter and Sara tried to comfort her in the meantime.

"Mummy" she cried out when the gag came loose.

"I'm here, I'm right here" she reassured her. Greg finished untying her and she flew into Holly's arms.

"Mummy" she was crying hysterically

"Shhh" Holly whispered trying to calm her down a little. She held her as tight as she could; Holly didn't want her turning around and seeing Gordon. He had a bullet hole in the centre of his head, his empty eyes still staring at them. It was enough to give anyone nightmares. She pulled away, still holding her head "did he hurt you, did he touch you?" she asked rhetorically

"c'mon" Catherine said crouching down beside them "Let's go home"

* * *

"Ahh Poncho, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" he took his hand hoping he could hear him or at least feel his presence. At least you're above ground. You know I thought moving to Vegas would have ruined you but I think it actually made you a better man. You've got kids an amazing wife and she can actually count – which I'd never though I'd say" he chuckled to himself, then looked at his son. Rodger leaned forward "I'm proud of you Poncho, I don't tell you that enough, but I'm proud that you're my son, proud of what you do, what you've become. I'll admit it I wasn't best pleased when you told us you were moving, but I am now son" I destroyed Rodger seeing his son like this, there was nothing he could do to make him better, when Nick was little and he fell over or hurt himself there was always something he or Jill could do to help their youngest. Now he was helpless and it felt horrible. Monitors started beeping faster and within seconds the room was flooded with nurses and doctors. They ushered Rodger out into the hall "What's going on?" he asked sternly

"Sir wait outside, we'll inform you soon" a young nurse replied.

"Mummy why that man steal me?" April asked innocently. Holly looked at her daughter unsure of how to answer

"He was just a horrible person kiddo" she said kissing her

"Who's Kelly?" she asked

"Someone who went up to heaven a long time ago" _'heaven?'_ Holly thought ' _she better not have'_ She sealed the evidence bag full of April's clothes

"Mummy, why dey in dere?"

"Well uncle Greg has to take them and look at them and if he finds something, the horrible man who took you can go in jail for a very long time" Holly picked her up and stood her on the bench in the locker room. Finn and Sara walked in

"Hey April, why don't I take you for a soda?" Finn offered. She looked away shyly burying her head into her mother's arm "hey I'll even buy you a cookie"

"Auntie Sara take me?" she asked her mum

"Yeah" she said looking at Sara

"C'mon then" Sara said taking her hand

"Bye untie Finn"

"Bye sweetheart"

"Hey don't take offence; it'll be because she's known Sara longer" Holly assured her

"Oh, it's okay Sara and I just wanted to know how you are"

"The most stressed out I have ever been in my entire life"

"Yeah I can imagine"

"Getting her back was a massive weight lifted, but Nick's still in a coma"

"I had no idea he was buried alive it must have been horrible for him, for everyone" Holly nodded. Finn sat down beside her "hey we're all here for you guys" she began putting her arms around her friend "you guys are gonna be fine" Holly's phone rang, she took it out and looked at the caller I.D. it was Rodger "he'll be wanting to know about April "hello" she answered cheerily "we found her she's alright"

"That's great, well done, holz I think you should come back to the hospital"

"Why what's up?" she asked her tone changing

"I don't know the won't say yet, just get back here"

Holly turned back to Finn "I dunno what's going on but I need to get back to Nick, I'm gonna find Sara or Catherine see if April's happy to stay with them. Just then Sara and Catherine came back with April, she appeared much happier "mummy look what I got!" she said holding up her cookie proudly

"Wow, hey remember when I told you that daddy was poorly, and that he was in hospital to get better?"

"Ya"

"Well daddy needs me there right now, so would you wanna stay with auntie Catherine, Auntie Sara and Auntie Finn?"

"I wanna come wit you an' see daddy"

"I know and he'd wanna see you, but the hospital has these horrible rules and children aren't allowed on the ward" April didn't reply this time "hey, I'll be as quick as I can, auntie Finn might even let you call her auntie Jules" she looked over at Finn who was giving her a stern look

"Kay den, you coming back" April asked quietly

"Hey 'course I am" she hugged her and kissed her forehead "hey I'll be as quick as I can"

* * *

"RODGER, JILL" Holly shouted running the rest of the corridor "what's happening?"

"The monitors started beeping, then they told me to wait outside, they've been in there for about 15 minutes" Holly looked through the glass; she couldn't see her husband for medical personnel. Suddenly the screen displaying Nick's rocky heart beat went flat. "Holly, is he…?" Jill began unable to finish her sentence

"He's in cardiac arrest" they heard a doctor shouting to his college's, also confirming their fears.

"He's not gonna make it" Jill whispered before she could stop herself.


	6. Chapter 6

"He's not gonna make it" Jill whispered before she could stop herself. Holly looked at her

"Not give up on him yet, she said. Although she wasn't sure who she was reassuring. Rodger put his arm around his wife, trying desperately to keep them both calm. They watched as doctors worked critically worked to save Nick's life. The deafening noise of the machines flowed out of the room. Holly sat down in the uncomfortable plastic chairs, and put her head in her hands. After getting April back she thought things might have been on the up again, but apparently not _"how many times are you going to shock him?"_ a nurse asked

" _As many times as it takes"_ someone replied

" _Charging 200"_ Nick's body jerked upwards as they shocked him. A doctor injected his heard with a shot ofepinephrine but it did no good; Nick's pulse did not start again.

" _Charging 250"_

" _c'mon"_ a doctor pleased with him _"Continue CPR"_

Jill could no longer watch; she turned around and let the tears fall. Holly stood up and hugged her, allowing her own tears out for the first time that day, she didn't try to wipe them or stop them, after all her husband was now officially dying. Rodger couldn't take his eyes off his son, everything was happening in slow motion, like he wasn't really watching, or something in a movie, never something that happens to your own family _"Charging 300"_ Monitors retuned to their steady rate _"he's back"_ they heard a doctor confirm. Holly and Jill's tears turned from fear to joy. The doctor came out and explained what had happened, none of them really heard or understood "can we see him?" Jill asked

"Of course" Jill ran up to her son's bedside and took his hand, kissing his forehead. Holly took his other hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Don't do that to us Nicky"

* * *

The CSI's had spent the entire night at Nick's bedside. Holly had gone home to be with her daughter to settle her although apparently it had taken a while. She had dragged Jill and Rodger home assuring them that the team would look after him and call if anything changed. By morning Finn and Catherine had gone back to the lab to find Shaw. They were both stumped; they had no clue where he could be hiding. "The only place we hadn't checked is his work, D.B said he worked in biometrics" Catherine suggested

"What is an assassin doing working in that field?" Finn asked

"These days nothing makes any sense" Catherine began looking up where he worked

"You guys seem pretty tight" Finn exclaimed

"Yeah we worked together for 12 years, you know how it is"

"Yeah, I feel like I've been here forever, not just a year"

"It happens to all the good CSI's" Catherine quipped. She was right though all the ones that lasted ended up being one of your best friends, she had no clue where she had gone so wrong with Riley, but she knew this Finn girl was different.

"Alright he works at M3 biometrics, let's go check it out"

Finn and Catherine walked in to Shaw's office he was due in for a shift now. He had taken a week off for 'personal' reasons that he didn't tell his boss. Catherine began opening drawers and looking for clues to where he might be when a gunshot rang out. Catherine dived down, pulling out her gun, more shots were fired and she got up slightly trying to see if Finn was alright and who was shooting at them. Finn was taking cover from a filing cabinet. Catherine looked round from the desk and saw Shaw firing at her, she took cover again. The shots stopped and she popped her head up, she couldn't see Shaw, she stood up and heard a gun click behind her. She stopped dead in her tracks and turned around slowly. Shaw had a gun pointed at her head "give me the gun" he whispered. Catherine stood still "now" she handed it to him, she hadn't had a chance to take the safety off and wasn't in a position that Finn could see her in, the building was empty and they had no back up. She was completely on her own. She handed the gun to Shaw hoping Finlay would pop her head out and see what was going on. "You came at the wrong time, lady"

"I can see that" Catherine knew that given half the chance the guy would probably shoot her "what do you want"

"What I want is Kelly, Walter and Karl back"

"Well it's a shame that the family has bad habit of committing suicide" Catherine lied Harry looked at her stunned "No, no Karl would never do that, no he didn't" he looked at Catherine again "he did, didn't he took his own life?" Karl let his arm fall "no, no, no your lying" he cried out

"why would I lie to you now? You have a gun at my head" Catherine exclaimed, wondering why the hell she had said that in the first place

"YOU STUPID PEOPLE TAKE…EVERYTHING AWAY" his arm had raised up again and was now shaking, he clearly didn't believe her.

"We had nothing to do with it" she tried to reassure him

"BLOOdY CSI'S, I shot Stokes don't think there is anyway that I won't kill you, you stupid bitch" he took the safety off "good…" his body jerked backwards, the gun fell from his hands and flopped to the ground. Catherine turned around; Finn had come round from the cabinet the gun still in her hands. Catherine smiled at her.

* * *

 _1 week later_

D.B was sitting by Nick's bedside everything was now over, they had some explaining since everyone was dead, but in the long run that was the best outcome. Nick was doing a little better, since last night. Holly had come back, April was with Catherine and Sara again "How's April doing?" D.B asked her as she handed a coffee to him

"Better"

"…and Catherine" he asked

"She's fine, thanks to Finn" D.B smiled

"How long are his parents staying for?"

"Just a week, they've handed a lot of cases to other people, there's only so long they can stay" Holly explained. Nick began making weird noises "Nicky?" she went and stood at his side "he's waking up" she said excitedly Nick eyes flickered open. The light was bright, and his eyes had to adjust to it. He was glad Holly was there. Nick reached out for her hand. Holly took it. She was beaming at him. "I love you" she whispered, kissing him. Nick began choking and struggling with the respirator. D.B pressed the CALL button Nick lifted his other hand trying to pull the tube out of his throat, Holly gently grabbed his wrists stopping him from doing more damage "that's not gonna help, Nick the nurse is on her way, hand on"

"Hey welcome back" she said walking back in the room after the nurses had taken the ventilator off him.

"Long was I out" he said hoarsely. It hurt his throat to talk so he whispered as quietly has he could

"Just over a week, do you remember what happened?" D.B asked. Holly took his hand again, and sat on the edge of the bed. Nick shook his head negatively

"You were shot" Holly said looking at D.B for support "don't freak out Nicky" she began "…Walter Gordon, he had a brother"

"What?" he asked, shock evident in his voice "he the one that shot me?"

"No, Harry Shaw did, he was their friend. He and this other guy Eric Nicoll were friends with Gordon. Shaw shot him because he didn't agree with what that psycho did" Nick nodded understandingly

"I remember you behind me then Sara standing over us" Holly was contemplating telling him about April

"Nicky, promise me you won't go crazy"

"Why what else happened?"

"Well April, she's okay" she began "Karl Gordon, Walter Gordon's brother… he kidnapped her…"

"WHAT?" he blurted out loudly, choking afterwards. Holly handed him a glass of water

"We got her back" D.B assured him

"I'm gonna kill him, he kidnaps my daughter 'cause he couldn't kill me?"

"Nicky he's dead" Holly explained

"Good" he said triumphantly

"Shaw too" Nick nodded

"Okay why don't you get some rest?" Russell suggested

"Alright, will you stay?" he asked Holly lying down

"Sure, I'm not going anywhere"

* * *

1 week later

"Daddy me want waffles for breakfast" April Stokes said to her father who was sitting at the kitchen table. April stood beside him

"Daddy" She said when he didn't reply. Nick looked over at her wondering how long she's been standing there; he pulled her on to his lap

"You're up early kiddo" Nick had been thinking about recent events and how close he'd come to loosing it all.

"Waffles" she demanded ignoring his last statement

"I don't think we have any, I can make pancakes though" he offered. April clearly didn't believe him as she went over to the freezer to have a look for herself "but I found waffles" she said holding up the bag. Nick smiled at her

"Kiddo, they are potato waffles" April opened the bag and took one out

"But dey aren't round" Nick laughed

"You know when mummy mashed the potatoes and they go all fluffy

"Ya"

"Well that's what is inside them"

"Can I have dem now?"

"I suppose so" Nick switched on the oven and waited it to heat up

"Can I put chocolate on dem?"

"Chocolate? These aren't normal waffles April"

"But chocolate good"

"Alright we'll give it a go" said giving into her as she walked through to the living room to play with her toys. Nick was watching her play when Holly came through and slipped her arms around his waist "morning" she said kissing his neck

"Morning" he replied turning round to kiss her back

"So" Holly began breaking away "potato waffles that aren't round and chocolate sauce?"

"What could possibly go wrong?" he quipped. Holly smiled at him. April came over and put her arms up, Holly picked her up and kissed her head "go see if your brothers are awake yet" Holly told her putting her down.

"Are you okay?" Holly asked Nick, noticing he was daydreaming

"Yeah, I'm just glad I'm still here" he said hugging his wife

"Me too, we all are"

* * *

The end!

Please review at let me know whether it was any good or not

Thanks to vegas nivel 3 for giving me some ideas :)


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